With the followout from the Great Plains collapse comes a huge bill to the city of Tulsa. Obviously, it was a matter of time before this was to happen. Tulsa put about millions to try to make Great Plains a success. Was the risk worth it? Well, in my opinion it was. Sure, they lost money on this deal, but I think we need to offer more incentives like this to try to get better air service in our city and state. You win some, you lose some! Unfortunately, Tulsa just lost out on this one, and they're probably going to hear about it from their citizens for sometime.

IMO, it's just a risk you take to try to improve your airport. I commend the Tulsa Airport Trust for trying to make something happen. I wish our Airport Trust was that forward thinking.

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"Great Plains' end may cost Tulsa
By Adam Wilmoth
The Oklahoman

TULSA - Great Plains Airlines appears permanently grounded after the carrier asked a bankruptcy court to liquidate the company last week.
The motion probably is one of the final steps for the troubled airline that had attempted to create direct air service from Oklahoma to the East and West coasts.

Besides losing the promise of improved air service, liquidation could leave Tulsa with a bill for $7 million to $9 million because of loan guarantees made by Tulsa International Airport, according to a Tulsa City Council report released in November.

"It's bad news to worse news for the education system, the police force, the emergency system, the city workers and the rest of Tulsa," Tulsa money manager Jake Dollarhide said. "What was a bad situation for the common traveler is now a bad situation for the common citizen who normally wouldn't have been as affected."

Tulsa Finance Director and acting Airports Director Mike Kier said he could not comment on the possible debt because of an active lawsuit between the airport and its former general council about that issue.

Kier, however, said he was not surprised by Great Plains' decision to liquidate.

"The movement from reorganization to liquidation is probably less surprising given the amount of time they've been in Chapter 11, not really making any progress during that time on any fronts," Kier said. "I know they tried to do some things to see if they could keep the airline going, but I don't recall them making any encouraging announcements about those efforts."

Great Plains executives and their attorneys did not return phone calls to The Oklahoman on Monday.

In its bankruptcy filings Friday, Great Plains said it had no choice but to convert to liquidation because all its efforts to emerge from bankruptcy had failed.

Great Plains filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy protection Jan. 23, 2004, citing "heavy debt" and a lengthy repair schedule for two of its aircraft. The airline then tried to reorganize, but over the next year, the carrier's five aircraft, maintenance division, spare parts and most other assets were either repossessed or sold.

The company said its recovery strategy ranged from resuming scheduled airline service to providing charter service to providing cargo service.

Most recently, the airline tried to sell to another company with the hopes the new owners would continue service from Tulsa and Oklahoma City. A memorandum of understanding was reached Nov. 1, but the potential buyers decided not to purchase the carrier because of failed attempts to obtain long-term funding, Great Plains said in the filing.

Besides the grants and loan guarantees the airline received from Tulsa, the Legislature also contributed $27 million in two rounds of tax credits in 2000 and 2002.

Rep. Kevin Calvey, R-Del City, said he hopes the state learns from the failed attempt to support the airline.

"I think it's a sad event, but I also think it's a very good lesson for all policy-makers that we shouldn't be throwing around tax credits like we did on a venture like that," said Calvey, who led the fight against Great Plains' second round of tax credits in 2002. "Policy-makers should be much more cautious about corporate welfare. But if you can learn from your mistake, you're ahead of the game."

Rep. Darrell Gilbert, D-Tulsa, agreed that legislators should be more cautious about supporting similar companies in the future, but he also said the promise of nonstop flights to the coasts was worth the investment.

"I think it was a good risk to begin with, but nobody predicted that 9/11 would happen," Gilbert said. "And even after 9/11, there was still the hope they could increase their routes."

Great Plains creditors have until mid-February to file complaints to the liquidation motion. "